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Development of a Vaccine for Bacterial Kidney Disease in Salmon

Final Report

Document format: pdf

Publisher: U.S. Department of Energy

Creation date: August 1, 1989

Bacterial kidney disease of salmonids is a very complex disease which appears to exploit a variety of pathogenic mechanisms. An understanding of these mechanisms is essential to the development of efficacious vaccines. It has become well established from the studies published .in this report and those of others that soluble antigens which are secreted by Renibacterium salmoninarum have toxigenic potential. If they are found to be responsible for mortality, the development of toxoid(s) could be paramount to the production of a vaccine. One must, however, be circumspect in producing a vaccine. A thorough knowledge, not only of the pathogen, but also of the immune system of the host is an absolute requirement. This becomes of particular importance when dealing with fish diseases, since the field of fish immunology is still within its infancy. This lack of knowledge is particularly felt when the induction of a prophylactic immune response concomitantly leads to pathological side effects which may be as destructive as the original infection. Indeed, it appears that some aspects of BKD may be due to the induction of hypersensitivity reactions. If such immunopathologies are expressed, it is prudent to thoroughly evaluate the nature of the immunoprophylaxis to insure that these harmful sequelae do not occur. Evaluation of a variety of antigens, adjuvants, immune responses, and survival data leads us to recommend that attempts at prophylaxis against BKD should center upon the elicitation of cellular immunity utilizing preparations of Mycobacterium chelonii. The choice of this species of mycobacteria was made because of its effectiveness, ease of maintenance and production, and the lack of need for its propagation within containment facilities. These assets are important to consider if large scale vaccine production is to be profitable. As can be seen from the data provided, M. chelonii alone is capable of producing prophylaxis to BKD, however, this is likely due to the induction of non-specific immunity and not to the existence of crossreactive antigens. Therefore, future studies should be devoted to further work on the induction of specific immunoprophylaxis incorporating this agent.

Key Words: DOE • Salmon • Bacterial Kidney Disease • Vaccine